NOVEMBER UPDATE

Well, I had an epidural block today under CT scan. My legs, especially the left one have been bothering me a lot lately due to the back problems I experienced from the accident. I really feel a lot older somedays when I try to walk and the pain prevents me from really doing any strong activity. Travel in a car still is OK if I take the medicine the doctors prescribed for me but I am not a big medicine taker and look forward to getting off of those prescrips. The block seems to help a little bit and a maybe a few more days it will get even better. Hopefully with continued exercise and limited anti-inflammatory meds I will be back to the activity I had before the accident in June. Rita seems to be doing fine after her therapy and is pretty much back to herself now. The weather has been beautiful here in Pa but we can expect a change to come soon. Weather usually is Fall like and many nice warm days through January and then through March it gets quite cold and light snow.

We were sadden this week to hear about the passing of Aunt Eva Free, Mom's youngest and last sibling. Rita and I will be attending her funeral in Hadley,PA on Monday and representing the family. I believe she was 94. From her daughter's call she passed quietly in her sleep late this week. To those who knew her, you will remember her quick sense of humor, quilt making, independance and the enjoyment of her family and farm home until only a few years ago when she moved to a carehome in Fredonia, PA. If you are interested in sending cards and do not have an address, contact me by e-mail and I will give you an address you can write to.

STREET ROADWORK ON WESTFIELD ST.

I was so impressed by the roadwork crews as they resurfaced our street in front of our home. It needed to be redone and the fun part was to see how they stripped the pavement off with this big machine, dumping it directly into the truck in minutes. When they stripped the pavement off you could see the old brick streets underneath. Our neighbor up the street remembered when he first lived there 49 years ago and drove those brick streets. They are in almost perfect condition. I drive down many brick streets in Pittsburgh and many of them are in expensive neighborhoods, preserved. Anyway they did it all in about 4 hours and tomorrow they will resurface, neat!!

PITTSBURGH'S 250TH ANNIVERSARY

Just a few pictures Rita and I took at the evening fireworks display for Pittsburgh's 250th Anniversary. We grabbed an evening train from our house(took 5 cars that passed us before we got on one) The train took us down to Station Square where we started to watch the fireworks from the Smithfield bridge(see photo's of mass of people on bridge) Remember Pittsburgh has a lot of bridges so this was a large crowd downtown. I suspect that there was over 500,000 people downtown watching the fireworks, music and all. They were shooting off the fireworks from many places around town, including off the top of the buildings and I suspect from the river itself. Our friend Amy Fisher and her husband Matt were downtown and wouldn't you know it our paths cossed on the bridge and we watched the fireworks together(see Amy hanging on to the upper part of the bridge) Hi Amy!!!
Sorry, I suspect Matt has better pics than me because he had a tripod and all. It was fun and hope you get an idea of the happenings shown below. Don't forget to click on the pictures to blow them up for better viewing.

TIME FOR A HAYRIDE AND A FEW HOT DOGS ON THE FIRE.

We recently had our annual Hayride at Mike and Esther Krajacic's farm in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Mike and Esther are members of our church family at CMA church in Upper St. Clair. They are both in their mid 80's and still farm a large parcel of land and raise feeder beef. Mike travels around speaking to churches and sharing his testimony. His travels have taken him to Russia and many other countries as a Christian Farmer speaking to those nations. As are many of our members they are warm caring family and Mike has attended several of my Sunday School classes, sharing his background and contributing so much to the church ministry in Upper St. Clair. Rita and I skipped the hayride this year but we had a lot of fun with the kids and our church friends(and the food was good too) Fall is approaching finally and it looks like it will be a beautiful one again this year. Below are several of our shared photos just to give you the feel of the Farm and friendly folks.

CMA CHURCH FAMILY AT THE FARM

LIFE GOES ON...

I find myself not working so much now. As you may not all know we were in an accident the end of June and a lady hit us quite hard from the rear. Her car was totaled and had to be towed away but we were more fortunate,in our Beetle. We had more minor damage due to the great construction of the Beetle. Unfortunately, the doctors said Rita had a good whiplash as well as myself and I have a herniated disk in my lower back. We have been going to Physical Therapy and doing all the other things necessary to get well and we are both doing OK at this time and almost finished with our PT. My back gives me the most problem but surgery is not a consideration and the doctor said I should get better in time, but I do take it much easier. Unfortunately, I found it uncomfortable to work fulltime at the VA and decided to leave my position and go back to part-time work and I limit that to certain facilities. The VA has been calling me and they would like me back but I don't know if I want to work fulltime, especially since some call is required. I will have to think on that carefully. Rita is working fulltime still and she seems OK with that. Those darn cars, they are good for us but people don't always watch where they are going around here and we now tend to be a little more vigilant in traffic these days, although there was nothing I could have done about this lady who decided to hit us. Fortunately, she did not seem to be injured so that was good for her also.

One thing I enjoy the most is to get out to the campgrounds, especially near us. With Rita working full time and responsibilities at home and PT, we have to be inventive. We often take trips and I stay at the campground and Rita comes and goes back to work, or rather I take her back and forth to work from the campground on certain days. If you mix these with weekends it allows us time to relax and still have the camping feel. We are fortunate living in Pittsburgh as there are many great places to go with our motorhome. One of our favorites is Keystone State Park about one hour from our home and maybe 45 minutes from Rita's work. Here are some pictures from Keystone and another lake campground taken early this summer and hope you enjoy them.

Our Camping Spot

Pennsylvania Lakes